THEATER

Beach Blanket Babylon Steve Silver’s effervescent revue of send-ups and showstoppers in which Snow White looks for love in an onslaught of pop-culture lampoons and fantastic hats. Ongoing. $25-$130. Club Fugazi, 678 Green St., S.F. 415-421-4222. www.beach blanketbabylon.com

— R. Hurwitt

Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2002 novel about an American Jewish writer in search of his family history in Ukraine might not translate seamlessly to the stage at first. But give Aurora Theatre’s Bay Area premiere some time, and masterful performances from Lura Dolas and Julian López-Morillas bring terrifying honesty to the play’s central question: What story do you write for yourself if your life and heritage are founded on unspeakable crime or victimhood? Through Dec. 16. Two hours 20 minutes. $35-$70. Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. 510-843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org — L. Janiak

The Infinite Wrench For a conceit as contrived and blatant as a race to perform 30 short plays in 60 minutes, the San Francisco Neo-Futurists are the least stagey group on Bay Area stages. For their ferocious commitment to the new, their openness to the imagination, their unvarnished honesty and can-do pep, they’re an underground power generator in an art form no one should ever deride as “dying” so long as they’re fighting the seconds ticking by. Ongoing. One hour, 15 minutes. $14-$19. PianoFight, 144 Taylor St., S.F. www.sfneofuturists.com

— L. Janiak

The Magic Bus Antenna Theater presents Chris Hardman’s magical mystery tour through the hippie ’60s and the Beat and Cold War past, on a bus ride through the city. Veterans of the era might nitpick, but it’s hard to resist the old clips and ’60s music. Ongoing. $40-$59. Meet at Union Square, Geary Street, S.F. 855-969-6244. www.magicbussf.com — R. Hurwitt

Marrakech Magic Theater Jay Alexander’s mien throughout his card tricks, mind reading, number games and feats of extraordinary coincidence is that of a nerd with overweening enthusiasm — enthusiasm you can’t help but share. And descending the venue’s mysterious steps into an all-arabesque lounge (with drinks and appetizers available for purchase) for preshow close-up magic and then entering a tiny jewel box theater for the actual show are experiences in and of themselves.

Ongoing. 90 minutes. $45. Marrakech Magic Theater, 419 O’Farrell St., S.F. www.sanfranciscomagictheater.com — L. Janiak

Men on Boats Swaying in sync, splaying floating appendages or convulsing their whole bodies, the all-female cast of ACT’s “Men on Boats” conjure the surface swells, underwater currents or blasting waterfalls of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 rowing expedition to the Grand Canyon. Jaclyn Backhaus’ play lets female actors do things they don’t normally get to do —go chest to

chest before a fight, give impassioned, vision-filled speeches underscored with John Williams majesty — with uproarious and subversive results. Through Dec. 16. 100 minutes. $15$110, subject to change. ACT’s Strand Theater, 1127 Market St., S.F. 415-7492228. www.act-sf.org — L. Janiak

Pike St. Nimble solo performer Nilaja Sun so finely carves the Puerto Rican, Jewish and Asian American characters of a Lower East Side tenement that your imagination conjures a whole medley of puckered or strapping or fidgety bodies on a mostly empty stage. As a hurricane looms, a preponderance of slice-of-life details make you wish something would actually happen, and when it does, Sun mostly pulls off the impossible: justifying a deus ex machina. Through Dec. 16. 80 minutes. $30-$97, subject to change. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. 510-647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org — L. Janiak

The Speakeasy It’s “Sleep No More” without the masks in this walk-through, Prohibition-era theater experience; audiences can play craps and blackjack, sneak through secret passages, quaff period cocktails, take in a dance at a cabaret, then spy on those dancers in their dressing room, via a two-way mirror. A feast for the adventurous — don’t try to get in without period attire of your own — “The Speakeasy” deserves to be a fixture in the Bay Area theater scene. Ends Sun., Dec. 2; resumes in January. Three hours, 30 minutes. $85-$130. Secret venue near North Beach and Chinatown, S.F. www.the speakeasysf.com — L. Janiak

Tourettes Without Regrets The long-running Oakland variety show hosted by Jamie DeWolf mixes stand-up, storytelling, circus, slam poetry, burlesque, freestyle rap and that which defies category. The high art elevates the low, and the low art democratizes the high. Rules manifest the Bay Area spirit at its finest: “Be offended” but never boo. And in what other theater experience do you get to roar with adulation as if you’re at a rock concert? First Thursday of every month. Three and a half hours. $15. Oakland Metro Operahouse, 522 Second St., Oakland. touretteswithoutregrets.com.

— L. Janiak

Volta Cirque du Soleil’s street sportsthemed show is propelled by exquisitely defined moods that give each acrobatic sequence a motive for existing beyond “Here’s an amazing feat!” Here, BMX biking, unicycling, ballet and Double Dutch aren’t just thrilling; they’re emotionally moving. Through Feb. 3 at the Big Top at AT&T Park, 74 Mission Rock St., S.F.; Feb. 13-March 23 at Big Top at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, 344 Tully Road, San Jose. Two and a half hours. $54$290, subject to change. 877-9247783. www.cirquedusoleil.com

— L. Janiak

We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War Like a cooling balm you’d despaired of discovering, Golden Thread Productions' world premiere — about a liberal aunt debating her army-bound nephew — insists that people with different political views can talk to each other. Playwright Mona Mansour manages to be both disarmingly naturalistic in dialogue and daring in structure, and actor Sarah Nina Hayon delivers an astonishing performance, both in comedic mannerisms and the absorption of terrifying news. Through Dec. 16. 70 minutes. $15-$38. Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St., S.F. www.goldenthread.org

— L. Janiak The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley: If Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s second Christmas-themed Jane Austen riff doesn’t kindle quite the same magic as their first, this one, set in the servants’ kitchen, still offers plenty of merriment: epistolary complications, empire-waist dresses, scheming female relatives and romance both sparked and thwarted by pride. Through Dec. . One hour 40 minutes. $25-$70. Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. 415-388-5208. www.marintheatre.org — L. Janiak

Not reviewed

Arcadia Shotgun Players presents Tom Stoppard’s play set on a country estate between 1809 and the late 20th century exploring mathematics, landscape gardening, Byron, and the undeniable power of the human heart. Through Jan. 6. $7-$40. Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. shotgunplayers.org

Avenue Q New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the Broadway hit incorporating adult Sesame Streetstyle puppetryin the story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. Through Jan. 6. $38-$65. Decker Theatre, 25 Van Ness Ave., S.F. 415861-8972. nctcsf.org

Barbarella: On Stage and in Space Dreams on the Rocks presents a sci-fi play set in 4018, as Barbarella, Earth’s preeminent five-star, double-rated “astronavagatrix,” is on a secret mission to save the galaxy from the evil cyberneticist Durand Durand.